At a meeting at Budapest Airport yesterday, 10 companies from the duty free trade, including retailers, suppliers and airports, passed a resolution to bring a new central European travel retail association into existence.

 

The Central & Eastern Europe Travel Retail Association (CEETRA) aims to foster a greater sense of community in the region it covers. It will raising the profile of the industry with key stakeholders and voice industry concerns as well as lead networking and knowledge-sharing events and workshops.

 

The founding members are Budapest International Airport, Vienna International Airport, Gebr Heinemann, Aelia Czech Republic, Pernod Ricard, Puig, Japan Tobacco International, Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco.

 

One of CEETRA’s first objectives is to join the European Travel Retail Confederation in order to add the region’s perspective and voice at European Union level.

 

Alan Bork (left), CEETRA Chairman and Commercial Director at Budapest International Airport, says: “We are excited about what can be achieved with CEETRA. I personally think this is a great opportunity to really add value to the industry in our region. We have a lot of innovative and smart people working throughout Central and Eastern Europe; bringing them together to share ideas and knowledge will be a huge benefit to all our businesses.”

 

CEETRA’s first annual general meeting will be held at the DFNI Global Conference on 13 November.